Causes of Increase in Oil Prices in Last 36 Months Essay

Causes of Increase in Oil Prices in Last 36 Months - Essay Example Such circumstances encouraged speculators to adopt measures that would ensure they made sufficient money to meet future demand. Oil traders have started placing premiums on the prices of crude oil on the basis of instability and uncertainty in the Middle East, which has the largest oil reserves in the world. Moreover, the increasing internal disturbances in countries such as Libya, Iraq and Tunisia as well as the potential threats pertaining to disruption of crude oil production and transportation in this region and in Africa, have led to increase in oil prices. In view of these circumstances, speculators started bidding higher for oil, which again raised prices across the world. Governments of several oil producing countries have not been adopting efficient management practices that have adversely impacted the performance of the oil industry in these countries. For instance, oil producing nations such as Venezuela have been channeling their oil revenues into domestic politicking in order to continue holding on to power. The oil industry in Venezuela and other countries in the Caribbean region have been nationalized and are used by the respective governments to meet their political objectives. Revenues from the oil industry are used to finance social projects and to subsidize gasoline to citizens. Oil revenues are substantially misappropriated in meeting the costs of political agendas, which reduces oil available in the market and thus there is increase in prices. The PDVSA is the only oil company in Venezuela that is having complete stake in the country’s oil functions. In being owned by the state, its management complies with state mandates irrespective of the fact that the company’s long term revenues and profitability suffer a setback. These governments try to make more money out of the oil business by quoting oil prices at very high levels. In African countries such as Nigeria, the increasing activities of rebels and terrorists have deterred investors from investing in the oil industry (Flower, 2010). Such circumstances deprive the sector from employing advanced technology because of which high production levels cannot be achieved and the resultant short supply leads to higher prices. Increasing use of industrial and automobile equipments, especially in developing countries, has led to increased demand for oil. The law of demand and supply provides that the price of any commodity will increase if its demand increases at any given supply level. In view of political and economic circumstances oil producers are not increasing supply of oil adequately in keeping up with increasing demand. It is thus natural that oil prices will increase. In the last few years, the evolving patterns of industrialization and use of vehicles has led to advancement of production processes, which have led to increase in demand for oil. The global demand for crude oil is increasing steadily, particularly in India and China that are undergoing rap id industrialization and development processes (Gupta, 2005). The economies of China and India are slated to grow the maximum in the coming future and they have already started consuming much higher levels of oil in meeting their energy requirements. Increasing per capita incomes in China and India have considerably increased the demand for automobiles and more and more people now own their own cars (Reynolds, 2005). In view of the huge middle class in these two countries, which are the most populated countries in the world, it is apparent that the demand for oil will also increase substantially. The US is no longer the biggest oil consumer and cannot dominate the oil industry by demanding preferential oil prices for

The Welfare Principle in the UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Welfare Principle in the UK - Essay Example In which, the rights, powers, duties, responsibilities and authority of the parents are provided concerning their children. In addition to that, it enables the court to hear and make decisions about the welfare of the child. The Adoption and Children Act 2002 changed the law pertaining to the parental responsibility.2 For children born on or after 1 December 2003 [England and Wales], 4 May 2006 [Scotland] and15 April 2002 [Northern Ireland], both biological parents remain owners of the parental responsibility if they are registered on the birth certificate of the child [whether or not the parents are married]. Contact Order definition According to section 8(1) of the Children Act, a contact order means an order requiring the person with whom a child lives or is to live, to allow the child to visit or stay with the person named in the order, or for that person and the child otherwise to have contact with each other.3 However, in case of clash between the interests of the parents and t he interests of children, the interests of the child will be preferred as was stated by the Court of Appeal in Re P (Contact: Supervision) [1996] 2FLR 314 at p.328. What are the interests of a child that the court is going to protect? For example, the child does not have only physical needs and educational needs, but also requires emotional support in order to grow naturally and complete the cycle of mental and physical growth. If parents are only able to satisfy the physical and education needs, but not the emotional one, it would not be easy for the court to serve and protect the interests of the child due to a clash between the different interests. Even in this case, if the court grants the contact order, the court compromises on the emotional needs of the child. On the other hand, if the court does not entertain the contact order request from the parents, the court again fails to properly serve the interests of the child. In order to ascertain the interests of the parents and th e interests of the child, the court needs to consider the contact order factors that assist whether contact order should be made or not. They include: Above all, the court has to consider what they believe to be in the best interests of child and the welfare of the child remains the main priority. In this regard, the feelings and wishes of the child as far as can be ascertained and they must be considered in the light of the child’s mental level and understanding: There is no specific age bracket provided to ascertain the mental level of a child. If the child faces a very specific mental disorder and the doctors remain unsuccessful to highlight the impact of the mental disorder on the child’s main mind function, under that situation, the age consideration may become irrelevant. Even the court decision to issue a contact order will not be able to serve the main objective of the child welfare. The court is required to take into account the child’s emotional, physi cal and educational needs as well: For example, if parents want to nurture their child and they are financially in a position to fulfil the physical and educational needs of the child, but they are unable to satisfy the emotional needs of the child. There are no particular emotional needs mentioned in the Children Act 1989 that must be satisfied before granting a contact order. In addition, there are different types of emotions and